Heroes of Nothing

To truly live, they tempt death.

There are five of them, though in fact there are many more. They were born into security and prosperity, but still something is missing. On the outside, each of them is an upstanding member of society. They all go to work, help turn the wheels of capitalism, weave threads of partnership. But on the inside, they are renegades for whom life is too easy and the stakes are negligible. They can do whatever they choose – and that is their curse. 

In a time empty of real worry, they wish to experience something real and powerful. So they drink with abandon and take risks, because even bad emotion is better than no emotion. Facing up to their fears and looking death in the eye — that is their recipe for life. What ensues are fights, climbing cranes, jumping on trains, and dramatic chases with the police through the streets of Prague.

In another time, perhaps heroes. At a time of peace and prosperity, reprobates. They live fast, and it can only end in one way. Or can it?

‘Surely everyone knows the feeling that life is about more than the drudgery of building a career, with a hobby here and there to make it bearable,’ says the author. ‘Isn’t life supposed to be an epic journey full of adventure and danger? And what if it’s not just a feeling, but an inner identity? This book charts the lives of people with such an identity – heroes living in the safest, most prosperous time in history, which has no interest in their heroism.’

For earlier generations, the extreme experience of fear and suffering often led to a collapse of values ​​and loss of meaning. František Voldřich shows the ease with which extreme experience can give life its only meaningful charge. Surprisingly little is needed – having things too good will suffice. This book is a powerful generational statement from today’s twenty-somethings that raises a number of questions. How, for instance, have we, the previous generation, contributed to this?

Petra Dvořáková, writer